Method of manufacturing bands



June 1945. A. P. D. BELANGER METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BANDS Filed Nov. 4, 1942 HI I ! Ill Patented June 12, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,377,857 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BANDS Albert P. D. Belanger, Chicago, Ill

Application November 4, 1942, Serial No. 464,506

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 2 Claims.

. The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

.This invention relates to amethod of manufacturing bands from strip material.

By the use of such material for this purpose the scrap material loss is reduced to a minimum and experience has shown that a far greater number of bands can be expeditiously and economically produced from a given quantity of stock or material than is possible by other methods usually practiced, and with very substantial saving in the cost of manufacture.

The method consists in its broadest aspect in making bands or rings from strip material capable of. being bent or distorted to a considerable degree without fracturing, and first piercing to completely remove a suitable quantity of material; thereafter expanding it, and finally shaping it into band form.

Bands of the kind produced by my method are, when made of the proper material, especially adapted for rotating bands for projectiles, but they are not limited to such use.

In the following specification, by the term strip I mean the long strip which may be of any length suitable for convenient handling, and by blank I mean the part separated from the long strip, and the material that is pierced from the blank I designate as a slug.

In the drawing illustrating the invention:

Figure 1 is an edge view of a strip ofsuitable material of proper width and thickness, from which will be cut or otherwise separated, a number of blanks each of which will be processed into a band or ring of a width, thickness and diameter commensurate with the quantity of material in the blank.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the long strip cut or deeply scored at intervals which scores define the lengths of the blanks when they are separated from the long strip or stock, one of the blanks having been pierced centrally and longi tudinally to form an elongated slot.

Figure 3 is an edge view of an individual blank showing the same apertured adjacent its opposite ends.

Figure 4 is an edge elevation of a strip of stock showing in dotted lines, fragments of a punch in position to operate upon the stock, and to one side thereof the position of the punch as having pierced or punched out the slug from the strip.

Figure 5 is a view showing the blank expanded by pressure exerted simultaneously from opposite sides by two suitable dies.

Figure 6 is a view showing a means by which the expanded blank may be finallyformed into a perfect band of ring shape.

Figure 7 is an edge elevation of a finished band and Figure 8 is a side view of the same.

Figure 9 is a detail sectional view showing a blank pierced from opposite sides, by wide knifelike punches preparatory to expanding it in the manner shown in Figure '5.

Figure 10 is a view showing a manner of shaping the blank from the expanded form shown in Figure 5 bythe passage therethrough of a sperical body; the blank being meanwhile suitably supported.

It is to be understood that I am not limited to any particular mechanical devices by which this method may be practiced, and only so much of a mechanism is shown as is necessary to explain the method.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral l designates a strip of suitable material or stock which, as intimated, will be of a length suitable for convenient handling and which will have a width and thickness appropriate to size of band to be made.

The strip is deeplypunched or scored, without loss of material, almost entirely through at suitable intervals, preferably by suitable punches 2, operating simultaneously and with equal speed from both sides of the strip, thus prodficing deep scores or notches 3, at which points the material may be easily separated into individual blanks to be operated upon by the mechanical means by which they are expanded, and by the means by which they are finally shaped into the finished form of the band such as is shown in Fig. 7.

Before the blank is separated from the main strip, or thereafter, as may be more expedient, the blank is pierced centrally and longitudinally with a wide and thin punch, such as 5 shown in dotted lines, Figure 4. This piercing operation produces, as intimated, an elongated slot 6, whose boundaries are substantially equidistant from the outer surface of the blank so that when the blank is expanded substantially to the shape shown in Figure 5, and finally shaped into the band or ring as shown in Figure 7, the band will have walls of uniform thickness. The piercing operation produces a slug 1, shown below the punch in Figure 4, which is of a value commensurate with the value of the material from which it has been punched, with no waste of material.

Preferably, and before the punching operation, the blank is perforated as indicated at 8, to prevent fracture during the expanding step, and the punch will be of such width as to include the perforations.

After the piercing operation in which the slug (Fig. 4) is punched from the blank, the blank is placed between twoysimilar dies 9 which are preferably moved in unison toward each other and against those points of the blank adjacent the points at which the blank was manually or otherwise separated from the -longstrip.

After the blank has been expanded sufficiently in the second essential step of the method, itsmay be inserted between suitably tensioned rollers such as indicated at IU, one onthe inside and two on the outside, as shown in Figure 6. The-rotation of the rollers rotating the expanded blank brings it to its final shape.

While I have described and illustrated the method-as applicable to-making bands of true circular shape it maylbe desir-able to make them of other shapes :from the expanded blank, I therefore l'doinot want to b'e understood as-limiting to the shape shown.

Instead :of, :as :shown in Figs. -2 and 4, wherein a strip of metal or slug 1 is removed from the blank, producing ithe slot "6, :I mayby the use of suitably shaped punches I l, piercing the blank simultaneously from both sides for substantially one-half the thickness of the blank as shown in Fig. 9 (removing no .metal) and afterexpanding the iblanklto substantially the shape shown in Fig.6, I.'may frce=-a spherical body or ball t2 through ithe :exp'anded blank, shaping it for thefinal operation.

The word coining as used herein comprehends anioperation knownin the industry as a sizing operation. This is performed by the use of suitable. male and female-dies which compress the metal cor flow it :to exact predetermined size.

I claim:

1. The :process .of making seamless bands which =comprises forming-from strip material of substantially uniform rectangular cross section, by scoring and punching operations, elongated blanks having an elongated slot centrally and longitudinally thereof, said slot having sides substantially uniformly spaced and substantially semi-cylindrical ends of a diameter equal to the slot Width, the material of the blank defining the sides and ends of said slot being of substantially uniform Width at any longitudinal section taken at right angles to the slot, thereafter applying to the ends of said blank substantially centrally directed force longitudinally of said slot, as the sole expanding force, to expand said blank to the approximate form of a quadrilateral having all sides approximately equal and opposite sides approximately parallel, and thereafter working theexpanded blank into circular form.

2. The process of making seamless bands which comprises scoring strip material along each side at regular intervals to define one end of one blank and one end ofanladjacent blank, said :scoring .on each side being directly .opposite and effecting bevelling of the ends of the blanks, piercing said blankscentrally and .longitu'dinally :to form .a slot in each of them of uniform width with semi-cylindrical ends of :a diameterequal to the width of the slotysevering said blanks from each other after one of said foregoing operations, the width of the :material defining the .sides and ends of the slot "of 1a severed blank being substantially uniform atlany longitudinal section at right angles to :sai'd1slot, and "the dimensions of the said sides 'of said .sl'ot being such as to permit expansion ofrsaid blank by applying to the ends thereof substantially centrally directed force, thereafter applying 1130 the .ends .of said blanks substantially :centrally directed :force longitudinally of ltheir said slots, as the sole expanding force, .to expand :sai'd blanks to .the approximate form of a quadrilateral having all sides approximately equalland opposite sides'approximately parallel, and thereafter working the'expanded blanks into circular form.

ALBERT P. -D. BELANGER. 

